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Rainbow milk
BES home Category:Biology in elementary schools Category:Developed for first grade Rainbow Milk Student worthiness Brand new and untested Primary biological content area covered Content covered: Classification, Priorities, Properties, Materials Food Coloring (three different colors) Liquid Dish Detergent Gallon of Milk (or enough to cover the groups of students testing the experiment) Bowls (enough for each group of students to perform experiment) Paper Markers, Crayons, or Colored Pencils Handouts Observation sheet (Have paper for students to make observations before and after food coloring and liquid dish detergent is added to the milk. Description of activity Students will actively mix three colors of food coloring and dish liquid detergent into a bowl of milk. They will then observe the effects and record their findings. Lesson plan 1. Ask the students to think about what they know about rainbows. 2. Aks the students for their answers and then tell them the correct definition. "A rainbow appears when sunlight passes through bits of water in the air. The white light is broken up into many colors" ( definition adapted from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Risfor.shtml) 3. Ask the students what colors appear in a rainbow. (Take time to get all volunteered responses). A diagram of the color wheel might be useful in showing students how combining certain colors results in a new color. 4. Tell the students that they will now be able to make their own rainbow. Be sure to take the time to explain that this is not how rainbows in the sky are formed... It may seem obvious to us, but younger children can take things extremely literally. 5. *Peform the activity* a.Give each small group of students a bowl containing milk. b.Next have the students add several drops of blue food coloring, yellow food coloring, and red food coloring equally spaced around the bowl. The colors should be equal distances from each other, so each color should be placed about 1/3 of the way around the outer rim of the milk. Ask the students to make predictions as to what will happen when the dish soap comes into contact with the food coloring; have them write these hypotheses down on their observation sheets. c.Add a little bit of dish soap to the center of the milk. d.Have the students watch the colors carefully. e. Once the mixture has settled,have the students make and record any observations regarding what has taken place to the milk and colors. f. Have students draw what they see on their observation sheets. 6. Go over the terms classification, properties, and priorities. Use these definitions to help the students figure out why some of the elements mixed, and others did not. 7. Discuss the results and final comments with students. 8. Have students help clean up, and have them help pack up a box for the students that were unable to make the lab that day. Potential pitfalls The milk may not mix with the elements provided. (The milk may not mix with the food coloring and or dish liquid detergent to make a rainbow). Math connections Addition: Students can count the number of food coloring drops in takes for each colored tube to see how many drops make a rainbow develop. Literature connections From the Rookie Read About Science series: "All the Colors of the Rainbow" by Allan Fowler Connections to educational standards Predicting and Hypothesizing S1-2:2 Students demonstrate their understanding of PREDICT- ING AND HYPOTHESIZING by… •Predicting a logical outcome to a situation, using prior knowledge, experience and/or evidence. AND Explaining reasons for that prediction. Conducting Experiments S1-2:4 Students demonstrate their ability to CONDUCT EXPERI- MENTS by… •Referring to and following a simple plan for an investigation. AND •Describing observations using senses rather than feelings (e.g., The snail has a hard shell with wavy, brown lines, rather than the snail is awesome). AND•Recording observations of similarities and differences . AND•Drawing scientifically: Next steps The students can take this experiment a step further by thinking of other elements that they could mix with the milk, and then they could test the productivity of those elements by mixing them in with the milk and seeing if they have the same effects. Citations and links Definition of rainbow: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Risfor.shtml) Vermont State Standards: http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/pubs/framework.html Source of idea: http://www.kidzone.ws/science/rainbow.htm